I have heard from several reloaders that the Lee factory crimp die is the best thing since bread came sliced. I have been using Redding Profile Crimp dies for all of my magnum pistol and .45-70 rifle handloads. What does the Lee die do that is so great? Is it really better than standard crimp dies or the Redding Profile crimp dies?
------------------ "The Constitution of the United States shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." - Samuel Adams
Posts: 487 | Location: Central Texas | Registered: 07 December 2001
I use a lot of Lee Dies, some with the factory crimp. The factory crimp is just a collet that squeezes the mouth of the case around the bullet. That is why you can use it on bullets without a cannelure. I don't think it's magic but it does appear to help to provide for consistent bullet pull which will yield more consistent ignition and velocity. It's very simple to use and you don't have to be as fussy about trim length. Like most Lee products it's inexpensive. By the way, I really like Redding dies too. They just feel like quality.
quote:Originally posted by Shark Bait: I have heard from several reloaders that the Lee factory crimp die is the best thing since bread came sliced. I have been using Redding Profile Crimp dies for all of my magnum pistol and .45-70 rifle handloads. What does the Lee die do that is so great?
Note that lee makes two very different kinds of factory crimp dies.
For rifle, the case is pushed into a die insert, then the insert is pushed into the die caseing and squeezes the mouth in a collet. This is much like the lee collect neck sizeing die. Since no slideing or vertical pushing on neck happens, you get a crimp without any buldgeing below the crimp.
For pistols, the die has a carbide resizeing ring similar to a resizeing die, but slightly larger as the intent is to make sure the buldgeing (which may exist) at the crimp is reduced to chamber size (but not trying to make sure the case is small enough to hold the bullet tight. The crimp is rather normal with a crimping insert adjusted by the lee aluminum knob with loose threads and an Oring. An added benifit is that the carbide resize ring can have only a small taper as the bullet feeds the case into the die. Particularly with dillon dies with the ample taper of the bottom of the resize die, haveing the second resizeing ring going down as far as possible is appreciated.
So I guess the thing is that no matter how hard you try to crimp, either one will give you cases without a buldge just below the crimp.
JerryO
Posts: 231 | Location: MN. USA | Registered: 09 June 2000
I like them as well. Besides some of the attributes others have mentioned, you CAN'T use a roll crimp on semi-auto cartridges as they seat in the chamber via the case edge. The Lee taper-crimp die allows both types of crimps, sort-of. If you really go in deep, it will start to roll the case-edge into the cannelure. If you keep the crimp-depth minimal, it just closes that baby up and snugs it onto the bullet quite well.
Most of the bullets I'm working with do not have a cannelure and I use the crimp die to just close the bell put in the case in by the charging/expanding die. I set it to provide just enough oomph to secure the bullet with no movement or spin in the case. ALSO - I typically get +/- .001" on my COL's with this Lee die. Honestly, I was amazed at that, but Lee did a good job with their carbide pistol die set. And - being carbide means NO CASE LUBING ! :-)
Yes, the Lee collet-style crimper is a good design, and if, due to some circumstance, you MUST crimp your ammunition, it does an excellent job.
The conventional crimper built into most seating dies will also do a passable job, but NEVER try to seat and crimp in one operation! Think about it: You will be both trying to push the bullet deeper AND trying to squeeze the mouth against it at the same time. Nothing good can come from this contradictory effort.
If you use a conventional seating die to crimp, first seat the bullet to proper depth with the die backed off so that the crimping band doesn't contact the case mouth, then come back in separate operation with seating stem screwed out (so that it doesn't contact the bullet) and adjust the die downward to the desired degree of crimp.
Posts: 13274 | Location: Henly, TX, USA | Registered: 04 April 2001
quote:Originally posted by Stonecreek: Yes, the Lee collet-style crimper is a good design, and if, due to some circumstance, you MUST crimp your ammunition, it does an excellent job.
The conventional crimper built into most seating dies will also do a passable job, but NEVER try to seat and crimp in one operation! Think about it: You will be both trying to push the bullet deeper AND trying to squeeze the mouth against it at the same time. Nothing good can come from this contradictory effort.
If you use a conventional seating die to crimp, first seat the bullet to proper depth with the die backed off so that the crimping band doesn't contact the case mouth, then come back in separate operation with seating stem screwed out (so that it doesn't contact the bullet) and adjust the die downward to the desired degree of crimp.
StoneCreek - I currently crimp as a separate operation for any round requiring a crimp and have been using the Redding Profile crimp for magnum pistol and .45-70 cartridges. They work very well. I was wondering what benefits the LEE factory dies have over the Redding profile crimps.
------------------ "The Constitution of the United States shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." - Samuel Adams
Posts: 487 | Location: Central Texas | Registered: 07 December 2001
"StoneCreek - I currently crimp as a separate operation for any round requiring a crimp and have been using the Redding Profile crimp for magnum pistol and .45-70 cartridges. They work very well. I was wondering what benefits the LEE factory dies have over the Redding profile crimps."
StoneCreek speaks the truth about the problems of seating and crimping at the same time. Ruin a couple of Lott cases like I have and you'll learn that lesson. The benefit of the Lee over the Redding profile crimps is that the case length is not critical with the Lee. Basically the crimping portion of the die "floats" to match your case length. With the Redding (which are my favorite dies) the case lengths need to be identical in order to get the exact same crimps from round to round.
